The present invention concerns a supporting column in the form of a spring with at least one spring-end cap that can be displaced toward the wheel or toward the chassis of a vehicle.
Such axially adjustable supporting columns are employed in vehicles with chassis that are intended to be elevated to varying levels above the ground. This feature can be desirable for example once a vehicle has been loaded and the intrusion of its rear suspension must be compensated. Such supporting columns, however, are also employed in on-and-off road vehicles to increase above ground clearance in rough terrains. Furthermore, these supporting columns can be employed in busses that kneel toward the curb at bus stops. Finally, Dynamic rocking and rolling on the part of the chassis can also be eliminated, enabling a level orientation independent of the road surface.
A supporting column of this genus is known from German 19 510 032 A1. It has a drawback in that it requires a lot of overhead between the chassis and the upper spring cap, and the dashpot's or telescoping leg's piston rod must be especially long and accordingly liable to bending, which makes the supporting column impractical for telescoping legs. Finally, the embodiment in question requires a large number of mechanical components and is accordingly more expensive to manufacture.